Question about kanji

[bookishfreak]

Hi! I don't know if this question is in the right spot, I hope it is! Anyway, my question is about kanji. I am confused over the "on" and "kun" readings. How do you know which to use when reading the characters? Is it just if you are reading in Japanese, you use the Kun readings and if you're reading in Chinese, you use the On readings? I hope this question makes sense. Thank you!


-Denae

[j_bertoni2279]

Depending on the word, the characters will have different pronunciations. You'll need to memorize many cases. For example:

下車　ー　げしゃ
下級　ー　かきゅう

Those are both on-yomi. Fortunately, many characters have one common reading.

There's also:

下　ー　した

as one of the many kun-yomi for this character.

[Javizy]

See my post in this thread.

[bookishfreak]

Thanks guys.